October 14, 2011

Saturday, 14 October 1911

Amundsen

"Now we are ready again," wrote Bjaaland. "I hope it won't be a fiasco like the last time. I think that the prospects are better now than on the previous occasion. The dog teams are strong and the equipment is very good. We ought to go far in 100 days. If I emerge unscathed from this journey, I must see that I get out of polar exploration. It's hardly worth the trouble. So farewell Framheim and people and an easy life and if I should be caught out there, well, my tenderest wishes to friends and acquaintances, my fellow-countrymen and the Fatherland." [1]

Gales and fog the following afternoon, however, delayed the start still longer.

"Amundsen," Hassel noted, "has not spoken a word to Johansen since the big day of reckoning, with the exception of their one-on-one talks on the matter." [2]

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About this page

Commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Amundsen and Scott expeditions to the South Pole.

Scott's route

Amundsen's route

A Note on Dates

When the Fram crossed the International Date Line on the way South, Amundsen did not drop a day from his calendar. The Norwegian diaries from mid-January 1911 to late January 1912 thus were on "Framheim time", dated one day later than they should have been: that is, according to Greenwich Mean Time instead of local time. Amundsen noted this specifically in his entry for the Pole itself, headed "Friday 15 December (really 14th)". No little confusion arises in published sources as a result, and doubtless a number of inconsistencies appear on this page. (See the entry for 10 January 1911 for further information.)

Dates are here adjusted to one day earlier than written in the Norwegian diaries, for entries between 10 January 1911 and late January 1912. Bibliographic citations are as in the published sources.